Back in 1999, very soon after I arrived to become Winterthur Museum’s curator of ceramics and glass, I bonded with a resident in the lovely Garden, there. As soon as I laid eyes on him (or her?), I began thinking of him as “my samurai koi.” For year’s I’ve continued to stop by to visit with him and to have meaningful (to me at least) conversations while he and his comrades circulated throughout their shady pond.

In 2013, a longtime pal, out in British Columbia, Canada, also became entranced with my fishy friend. The result? Jeannie’s Koi came into being. Years later, in 2017, after enjoying his time on the West Coast, the fish made another cross-country swim to his new home in New York City.

Phase 1: My husband, Lindsay, helped me to carve the wooden body of the koi who, ultimately, would appear to rise out of a pool of water. I approximated some of the bolder markings on the body by drawing on rough outlines. Then, I began beading in peyote stitch in about 20 different shades and textures of glass seed beads. (At this stage, the fish’s proportions looked a bit heavy, but that would change as his fins and the water were completed.)

Phase 2: The koi began to “slim down” in appearance, as I neared completion of the beadwork on his body. The front fins soon would be enlarged and partially submerged in the water. The back fins and tail would appear as though they were under the pond’s surface.

Phase 3: The water was well under way, now, and two of three lily pads had been attached near the tail end of the koi. The tail, eventually, would appear to curl under the water beneath the leaves.